“110 FLIGHTS”, Proctors Upstairs at 440, 04/15/2008

SCHENECTADY — Patrick and Shahla are a happy, loving couple. She’s looking for her briefcase, buzzing and nervous about a presentation she has to do in front of her class. He knows where it is, but he’s not telling, playing dumb as he puts on his badge and his uniform. Finally, he relents, producing the satchel with a flourish. She hits him with a pillow, laughing. A friend calls, with news, his baby said her first word…

And then a few blocks away the world explodes.

Nahal Navidar’s “110 Flights” is the third entry in Proctors’ New Plays Festival, and it begins on the morning of September 11, 2001.

Once the noise and the onstage blackout subside things are very different for the Irish cop and his Iranian wife.

Patrick is devastated beyond words at the loss of his friend, Evan, but he uses words anyway, and they hurt.

He adds expletives in front of the term Arabs and Shahla is stunned all over again, lifted out of her own grief into a new realm of anger.

Navidar’s play goes back and forth like this, tracing the arcs of rage, disbelief, mute stupidity and unexplained moments of happiness that we all remember in the wake of 9/11.

It is a remarkable effort for a first play, and a strong entry in this well-engineered festival.

“Flights” is a bit of a set piece, and Navidar is occasionally heavy-handed with her plotting. But those quibbles are negligible given the power of the play.

Less negligible is the work’s dependence on a series of sound collages (created by Lori Barringer) designed to place the audience back into the mood of the day. The memories remain fresh enough and the soundscapes distract more than they add.

With the deftness Navidar displays in creating monologues for her characters the playwright could easily slip in what little exposition she needs in place of the recordings.

Jeffrey Mousseau directs “110 Flights” for the festival and wisely keeps the action claustrophobic, never letting the tension out of Patrick and Shahla’s cramped downtown apartment.

David Matranga and Reema Zaman are well cast in the roles.

The tender moments sing and the angry ones roar.

Both dig deep into their characters and imbue their arguments over race, gender and world politics with real emotion.

The fact that Shahla has seen death and destruction at home, only to become an outcast in her adopted country adds real perspective to the tale.

“110 Flights” is a tough play about tough subjects. The ripples of 9/11 continue to spread, and while the play only moves through the months after the tragedy, the taste and smell of the events are still strong.

This is also a brave play and hopefully just the first … and not the only … step for Navidar.

Michael Eck, a freelance writer from Albany, is a regular contributor to the Times Union.